Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest theatrical venture, the transforming of the St James Theatre in Victoria into The Other Palace, this year opened its doors with the gin-soaked jazz age musical The Wild Party. It featured a cast of 15, cavorting around an exuberant three-storey set that also housed the eight-piece orchestra. It was, by any standards, a spectacular production. Yet for all the spectacle, glamour and glitter, it was one of the dullest shows of the year. With tunes that you forget even while you’re ...

Pros: A hilarious, touching, emotional ride through contemporary social and sexual mores Cons: None A bare, carpeted stage with a circular bed dead centre. As the lights go up, a couple are having energetic, enthusiastic sex beneath a pink satin eiderdown. All we can see of him are his lower legs, his underpants dangling from an ankle; all we can see of her as she sits astride him is the giant mouse costume that covers her from head to foot. ...